Seasonal Employment Helps Lower Jobless Rate

May 29, 2008|By PETER FROST, pfrost@dailypress.com 247-4744

Hampton Roads' unemployment rate dropped to 3.5 percent in April as the region's leisure and hospitality sector picked up seasonal jobs in the run-up to the tourism season, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Wednesday.

The region's jobless rate improved from 4.1 percent in March, but still remained above the 2.8 percent rate in April 2007, the commission said.

Employment throughout the region grew by 6,800 jobs, with the leisure and hospitality sector leading the way, adding some 3,600 jobs between March and April, according to data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Statewide, the jobless rate fell to 3.3 percent in April, down from 3.9 percent a month earlier due in part to the end of a worker strike at a Volvo plant in Dublin, seasonal construction workers returning to jobs and college graduates starting work, said William Mezger, chief economist for the employment commission.

Jobless rates in all 10 of Virginia's metropolitan areas improved in April, the commission reported.

Arlington County in Northern Virginia has the state's lowest unemployment rate at 2.1 percent. The city of Martinsville had the highest rate, at 10.1 percent.